Apparatus for producing sound-records.



No. 689,349. Patented Dec. l7, l90l. E. BERLINER.

APPARATUS FUR PRODUCING SOUND RECORDS.

A limm filed May 14, 1901. (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

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Patented Dec. l7. IQUI.

E. BERLINER. APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING SOUND RECORDS.

(Application fll ed m 14, 1901.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 (No Model.)

Zaf/he 5565.

17 771324, 267" Zine r UNITED STATES AT FICEQ EMILE BERLINER, OF WVASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED STATES GRAMOPHONE COMPANY, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, A CORPORATION OF WEST VIRGINIA.

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING SOUND-RECORDS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 689,349, dated December 1'7, 1901.

Application filed May 14, 1901- T at whom it mag concern.-

Be it known that I, EMILE BERLINER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Washington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inApparatus forProd ucing Sound-Rec0rds,of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to increase and extend the usefulness of gramophonic apparatus and to add another meansfor producing gramophonic records to those heretofore known. By my invention, in fact, I place it within the power of persons unskilled in the art of making sound-records to produce records of their own, and this without the use of other machinery than that which they are already supposed to possess for the purpose of reproducing such records. Thus, for instance, my invention renders it possible for the owner of a gramophone-machine, which can now be purchased in the open market at a moderate price, but can ordinarily be used for reproducing purposes only, to make a record of business-letters, contracts, musical selections, and the like by means of said machine, thus using the gramo phone as a recording-machine, and to thereafter translate such records into sound by the same apparatus which has been used to produce it.

To these ends my invention consists in the means for forming a preliminary groove in a gramophone-tablet and thereafter superposing the sound-record upon this groove; and my invention furthermore consists in the gramophone-tablets thus formed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 shows the gramophone tablet with a preliminary groove formed therein, and Fig. 2 shows a portion of said groove as it appears after the soundrecord has been superposed thereon. Fig. 3 shows a view of the recording-stylus and tablet.

In the practice of my invention I may 5 start with the usual zinc plate covered with an etching-ground, as is commonly used in this art. This plate I place in any type of engraving-machine which can cut a smooth groove upon the plate.

line or groove-upon the face of the plate, the

SerialNo.60,152. (Remodel-I shape of groove usually employed being that '50 of a spiral. By preference I use for this purpose the recording-machine patented to me on September 19, 1895, under No. 534,543- that is to say, I place the zinc plate, covered with an etching-ground, in this machine, with the recording-stylus in position, and start the machine in motion, without, however, actuating its diaphragm by sounds uttered in the vicinity. In consequence the etchingground of the plate will be removed along a smooth spiral line. I then place the plate inan etching-bath, and thus form a smooth spiral groove of appropriate depth in the material of the plate. As I have stated above, however, this groove might be formed in the etching-ground by any other type of engraving-machine, or it might be out directly into the material of the plate by the action of the machine instead of first cutting it into the etching ground and thereafter etching a From the zinc plate thus formed a mold or patrix is made, pref erably after the fashion described in my Patent No.. 548,623. The mold or patrix thus obtainedis thereupon used to stamp a facsimile of the smooth-walled spiral groove of the zinc plateinto thematerial of the ordinary gramophone record-plates as it exists before a sound-record has been impressed upon it that is to say, the patrix is pressed against a flat plane-surfaced plate, usually of hard rubber.

By the means thus fardescribed I produce, as will be seen, in any desired quantity hardrubber record-plates of the kind now in use on gramophone-machines, but with a plain and smooth-walled spiral groove instead of a groove molded in accordance with sound- Waves. Such a plate is shown in Fig. 1. It is obvious, of course, thatthese rubber plates witha smooth spiral groove could be made by cutting the groove directly into the material of the rubber plate by an engravingmachine instead of by the means above described. Such rubberorother record-p1ate with a preliminary spiral groove may now be sold to the users of gramophones or similar sound-reproducing apparatus. As is well known, a gramophone is an apparatus which as ordinarily used translates a sound-record into sound; but it has heretofore not been possible for these reproducing-machines to record sound with any degree of commercial success directly upon the hard material of which the record-tablets are composed. This was partially due to the fact that such reproducing-machines are built in a light and inexpensive way, so as to more especially adapt them for the primary purpose for which they have heretofore been intended. I have discovered, however, that when a record-tablet with a preliminary groove of the kind above described is employed such gramophone-machines, even as now built and sold, may be successfully used as recorders. To this end a record-tablet with a preliminary smooth-walled spiral groove is placed in the gramophone-machine, which is then set in motion while sounds are produced in the neighborhood of its diaphragm. The stylus of the gramophone now acts as a recordingstylus to shape, indent, or impress the laterally-undulating sound-records on the wall of the preliminary spiral groove. The approximate shape of the groove as it then appears after the sound-record has been impressed thereon is shown in Fig. 2, the walls of the preliminary groove being denoted by a Ct and the walls of the completed groove being designated b b. A close inspection of the finished record reveals both grooves.

The stylus which is used to make the soundrecord in the preliminary groove is generally somewhat broader at the point than that which was used to form the groove in the first plate-that is to say, the point of the recording-stylus is somewhat wider than the preliminary groove. The preliminary groove seems to have the function of guiding the record-stylus and, what is more important, of lessening the work required to be done by the recording-stylus in shaping or indenting the material of the record -plate, which would otherwise have to be shaped or indented by the recording-stylus. This makes it possible to use for recording purposes the light and inexpensive gramophone reproducing-machine which is principally designed for reproducing purposes instead of being compelled to use the heavy and comparatively expensive recording-machine.

I have found the shape of the record-groove as it finally appears in the record-tablet ap proximates the shape of such record-grooves as heretofore produced in accordance with the plans laid down in any patents above referred to, and, what seems to be quite remarkable, I have discovered that whatever difference in shape or configuration there may be between gramophone-records produced in the old way and produced in accordance with this invention such diiferences are not sufficient to pre vent the reproduction of sound. The theoretical reasons for this I am not prepared to state. It is clear, however, from what has been said that such tablets with sound-reoords impressed upon a preliminary groove by a machine primarily designed for reproducing purposes may now be used for the reproduction of the sound recorded thereon by the I same machine.

The method I have described for making sound-records might also be carried out by forming the preliminary spiral groove in the zinc-plate as above described and thereupon superimposing a sound-record upon this preliminary groove in the zinc-plate itself. A mold or patrix madefrom such zinc plate c'ould then be used to impress facsimiles of soundrecords of the character shown in Fig. 2 upon the usual rubber record-plates.

The sound-box A and stylus B, as well as the arm 0, on which they are mounted, and which are shown in Fig. 3, are of the usual construction common in the art and need no detailed description.

What I claim is 1. The combination of a blank record-surface carrying a previously-formed plain, spiral or helical groove in the record material and a sound-recording stylus moving in and propelled solely by the groove and shaping the groove in accordance with sound-vibrations, substantially as described.

2. The combination of a record-tablet car- -rying a spiral groove and a sound-recording name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EMILE BERLINER.

Witnesses:

J. JEROME LIGHTFOOT, O. E. MARsHALL. 

